House Hale
by ariddlesorigin
Summary: Alternate re-telling of Teen Wolf with Stiles as Derek's (much, much younger) son as opposed to Scott's best friend.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Teen Wolf and all of its characters and elements are a product of their creator Jeff Davis and subsequently belong to him and MTV. Also, title is from Hoechlin, because he is adorable.

Notes: Not beta read. Sorry for any and all grammar/structure mistakes. Enjoy.

* * *

Derek Hale, at twenty, never dreamed of becoming a father. It wasn't that he didn't like children—it was more along the lines of the fact that he could not imagine himself in a situation that would ever result in a child. When it just so happened that you found yourself manipulated by an older woman and your entire family (aside from an older sister and a now catatonic uncle) burned to death as a direct consequence, you may have grown up to have a few issues with trust and intimacy. Thus, there were no girlfriends, no one-night-stands or even any sex in general and definitely no babies. However, this did not explain the quiet noises of two tiny, socked feet padding down his apartment hallway.

Derek rolled over from his back to face the doorway just as the feet came to a stop outside of his door. He suppressed a smile as he watched the door slip open a few inches and an aforementioned socked foot crept into view. Deciding to play along, he quickly closed his eyes and evened his breathing out as much as he could, listening to the sounds of his son sneaking into the room. Derek didn't have to wait long and snatched the small leaping body out of the air as it completed its task of entering the room and reaching the bed.

"Daddy!" Stiles' delighted squeals filled the room as Derek flopped him over onto the bed. He settled back into the pillows and lifted an arm for Stiles to squirm his way under. Pressing his nose to the crown of his head, Derek's wolf rumbled in contentment at the scent of his cub, and his eyes flared in response. Catching the flash of blue, Stiles lifted his gaze to his father's and allowed his own eyes to briefly flash green. "Good morning, Daddy."

"Good morning, buddy. Sleep well?"

"No. I miss Laura. She was sa-sap-supposed to read me my story before bed." Stiles sniffled quietly and buried his face into Derek's neck.

Derek cringed and ran a hand down the back of Stiles' head to cup the back of his neck. "I know, buddy, but Laura had to go on a trip. Remember? We talked about this. Back to Daddy and Aunt Laura's hometown to take care of a few things. She'll be back in just six more sleeps."

"Just six more?"

"Yes. Now, how about we go make some pancakes? I could hear that tummy growling all the way from your room. After that, we can even call Laura, okay?" With that, Derek swung himself out of bed followed by his slightly disheartened child. In attempts to lighten the mood, he hoisted Stiles up onto his shoulders (one of his favorite positions) and made his way to the kitchen with the accompaniment of elated giggles.

* * *

Derek placed the plate of cut up pancakes along with a glass of milk on the table in front of Stiles before pressing a kiss to the top of his head. The side of his mouth quirked up at the sight of Stiles attempting to not make a mess; his tiny little eyebrows were furrowed in concentration as he carefully speared a piece of pancake before stuffing it into his cheek. "I did it all by myself, Daddy!"

"I see that, good job." Derek leaned over to gently chuck him under the chin. "But no more talking with your mouth full, okay?"

"Okay!" Stiles chirped before turning his attention back to his breakfast. Leaving the little chipmunk to it, Derek turned to lean on the counter and pulled out his cellphone to dial his sister.

"Hey, little brother! How are you and Midget doing?"

"Terrible, Laura. Left to our own unsupervised devices we've destroyed the apartment."

"Listen, loser, I don't know who told you that you were funny, but they were lying, okay? So just stop."

"Stiles misses you. You weren't here to read him his bed time story. He didn't want me to do it."

"Well, no one does read quite as well as me, Der. Let me talk to him."

"Hold on." Derek turned back around to face Stiles. "Guess who wants to talk to you?" Stiles, breakfast forgotten, made grabby hands at the phone and he handed it over.

"Auntie Laura! You have to come home now." Derek smirked at the exaggerated pout on his son's face before leaving him to talk to his sister as he set about cleaning up the breakfast mess. As he was loading the last dish into the dishwasher he felt Stiles' tug onto his pajama pants. "Laura wants to talk to you."

He accepted the phone before sending Stiles off to pick out his clothes for the day and to get ready for a bath. "He's right, you know. You should come home—you shouldn't have even gone."

"Der, you know someone needed to come back here. A spiral carved into a dead deer? That's a deliberate message and we couldn't just ignore it, especially not in our hometown."

"I should have gone with yo—"

"Derek, just stop. We both know that Stiles is your main priority and everything is going to be fine anyway. Besides, who's the Alpha in this pack? It's my responsibility."

"You'll call me if anything comes up?"

"Duh. Now go give Midget his bath before he tries to do it himself again. Later!" Sighing, he mumbled his own good-bye, ended the call and went in search of his cub.

* * *

After successfully removing any trace of syrup from his offspring with a bath and getting him dressed, Derek elected to place Stiles in the living room with a show while he got himself ready for the day.

"What show do you want to watch while I get ready? After that, we need to run to the store because you, little man, have eaten all of the food in this house!"

"Nuh-uh!" Stiles stomped his little foot before poking his father in the stomach. "You and Auntie Laura did!"

"Well, maybe Auntie Laura did." He agreed conspiratorially and swung Stiles up from the floor and deposited him on the couch. "Show?"

"The Magic School Bus, please!" Stiles rolled about on the couch a bit before curling up near the left arm. Derek repressed a shudder at the mention of that show before turning to comply with his son's wishes. He had never understood some children's shows, but at least this one was somewhat educational and it could have always been worse. Derek had to draw the line when he came home and caught Laura letting Stiles watch Oobi. What. Even.

"Here you go. Come get me if you need anything?" Derek rolled his eyes at the vague noise of affirmation he received from his child (it was like he didn't even exist when this show was on) before heading off to the shower. One drawback to using werewolf hearing to check up on your spawn? He'd never get those catchy jingles out of his head.

* * *

"We've got to get a new car, Stiles." Derek muttered to himself as he struggled to click the seatbelt over Stiles' chest over the backseat. "This is ridiculous." When he finally heard the snap, he slumped back into his own seat exasperated. "Not that Laura would ever give this thing up. Anyway, all set to go to the store now?"

"Can we get orange juice? Ms. Frizzle says that it's good for your body."

"Well, if Ms. Frizzle says so, I don't see why not."

"Awesome!"

He shook his head in amusement before turning on a child-friendly station for Stiles to sing along to on the way to the store before pulling out into traffic. One aspect that Derek was grateful for about their apartment was the fact that it was relatively close to a shopping center so it wasn't long before he was pulling into a parking space. "Okay, Stiles. I need you to tell me the rules before we go in."

Stiles squirmed down in his carseat before shooting his father an exact replication of one of Laura's bitchfaces (apparently he was going to have to have a talk with her about using those in front of him so often), "No talking about the wolfy business and absolutely no magic. I know, Daddy!"

He couldn't repress a snort as he mouthed 'wolfy business' to himself. "Is that what we're calling it now? But, yes, Stiles, that's right. It's not safe for us to talk about those things. I just don't want you to get hurt. It's also unsafe for you to be using magic out in public, buddy—you could hurt yourself or someone around you. Alright?" He glanced in the mirror and waited for Stiles to nod in agreement, then opened the car door to get out.

* * *

Stiles was sent off to his room to play while Derek put the groceries away when they got home; he figured that would give him enough time to get a few chores done around the apartment before getting a few things done for himself. Occasionally, he would extend his hearing to listen for Stiles to make sure he was behaving himself or that he hadn't hurt himself, but he appeared to be happily chattering to both himself and his toys in his room and his heart rate never spiked above normal.

After about an hour and a half, when he was in the middle of his workout routine in the living room, Derek heard the door to Stiles' room creek open and his feet pad down the hallway; he paused in the middle of his push-up and smiled at his cub when he came into view. "What's up, little man?"

Stiles grinned mischievously before scampering over to his father and climbing up onto his back. "Hi, Daddy. It's time for lunch, you know!"

Derek winced as he took a foot to the kidney, but then completed three more push-ups to cause Stiles to giggle. "Is it? I suppose I should feed you. What would you like for lunch?"

Stiles didn't even pause to think about it, rolling off of his dad and bolting for the kitchen. "Grilled cheese with tomato slices, please!"

Derek rolled to his feet to follow after him, but not before slipping his phone out of his pocket to check for an update from Laura. He frowned when he noticed that there wasn't anything.

* * *

"Uuufffmmmoh. My. God." He murmured just as he face-planted onto the couch. He just didn't understand how such a tiny little body could have so much energy—and for crying-out-loud, he was a werewolf! How did normal human beings keep up with toddlers!? Just maybe a tiny whimper escaped him at the sound of the vicious beast—he meant his tiny, innocent little cub—approaching, but Stiles merely snuggled up underneath his arm on the couch. Letting out a sigh of relief, he tugged the blanket off the back of the couch and settled down for an afternoon nap.

* * *

"What are you drawing?"

"Laura as a wolf. You're over here, Daddy, see." Derek furrowed his eyebrows at the stick-figure that ironically was lacking in the eyebrow department but was sporting some vicious side-burns as well as some blue eyes. "And here's me." He moved his gaze to a tiny little stick-figure that was standing next to the wolf-figure with green eyes. "It's for you. It's our family!"

"It's perfect, Stiles."

* * *

Parenthood, Derek had come to learn was definitely a process of trial and error-take dinner for example. No one wanted to watch an independent and determined toddler feed himself spaghetti noodles and meatballs and be left with that aftermath. So, Derek had experimented and upgraded to penne noodles and meatballs—much easier for said independent and determined toddler to wolf down all on his own with significantly less clean up (it really was all about appreciating the little things in life).

As he put the water on to boil for the pasta, he helped Stiles wash his hands then set him down at the kitchen table with a head of lettuce and let him rip it to shreds for a salad. "Daddy, I want to add a cucumber to my salad. But you have to use your claws to cut it up! It's more special that way!"

Indulgently (because, let's be real: if there was one thing that Derek Hale inherently liked about himself, it was that he was a werewolf. He was honestly thrilled by the childish awe and wonder that Stiles exhibited about it), Derek used his claws to peel and slice Stiles a cucumber, as well as sneaking a few tomatoes and dried cranberries into the salad; he accepted and returned his cub's hug of thanks in return before turning to add the pasta to the water and starting the meatballs.

Humming to himself, Stiles carefully divided the salad up between two bowls, his tongue peeking out in concentration. When he finished, he hoped down from the table and went to wash his hands again before glancing up at his daddy. He narrowed his eyes—his daddy who seemed to be busy and not paying attention. So maybe if he was really quiet he could sneak over to the fridge and-"Stiles."

"I just wanted some orange juice. Sheesh!"

Derek snorted a laugh, before reaching over to turn the stove off. A quirked eyebrow and a pointed finger directed a somewhat petulant toddler over to the table as he finished getting dinner ready; setting the plates of penne down next to the salad, he looked at Stiles expectantly.

"May I please have some orange juice?"

"Yes. Thank you for using your manners this time." As he went to retrieve the drink, he checked his phone again. Still no word from Laura.

After dinner, the pair re-settled at the kitchen table in order to go over some of Stiles' preschool curriculum; Derek watched Stiles dutifully write out his alphabet for his daddy, his own name, his father's name and then his Aunt Laura's name. Then he helped sort each letter into groups of vowels and consonants, before asking Stiles to go over the sound each letter produced. When Stiles had gotten those all correct, they moved on to the days of the week, months and seasons. Before letting him up from the table, Derek asked Stiles to go over the numbers one through twenty, ruffling his hair when he was done. "That was awesome, big guy! Aunt Laura is going to be so proud of you when she gets back."

"Auntie Laura said that soon I'd be able to read all by myself!" Stiles replied, bouncing excitedly in his seat.

"Well, I don't think she'd lie to her favorite nephew." Derek leaned over to scoop Stiles up and set him on the floor before he bounced there himself. "And I don't doubt that you'll be reading in no time, buddy. Time to get ready for bed. Can you go pick out your pajamas? I'll be there after I clean up."

* * *

Derek opened the door to the sight of Stiles wiggling into his pajama bottoms on the floor. He kneeled down to help him right himself.

"Can you help me with my shirt, please?"

"Sure thing, bud."

Once Stiles was fully outfitted in his pajamas, Derek carried him to the bathroom to help him wash up for bed. He placed him on the stepping stool next to the sink before opening the medicine cabinet to retrieve two Flintstones Vitamins. He handed those off to Stiles before readying both toothbrushes. "Vitamins first. Then teeth."

"Ahh!"

"Charming. Perhaps you're spending too much time with Aunt Laura," muttered Derek dryly before he handed over the toothbrush.

Finished in the bathroom, the pair moved back into Stiles' room and the toddler made a running leap for the bed and bounced twice upon landing; he then proceeded to squirm his way up toward the pillows before turning expectant eyes upon his father.

"Only five more sleeps. Then Aunt Laura will be home to read you your story, Stiles." Derek soothed as he smoothed back Stiles' hair from his face—maybe it was time for a haircut.

"Can we call her?"

"Not tonight, but we can call her again in the morning. It's time to rest now." He leaned over to nuzzle along Stiles' neck before pulling the blankets up to tuck him in. "Do you want your nightlight on?"

"Yes, please."

Derek crossed the room to turn the small dinosaur nightlight on before heading towards the door. "I love you, Stiles."

"I love you, too, Daddy."

"Good night, buddy, sweet dreams." Derek waited for Stiles to murmur his own good-night and burrow further down into his covers before flicking out the light and closing the door.

* * *

Right. So that kid that Derek could never see himself having? Interesting story.


	2. Chapter 2

**Large portions of plot from Chapter One are lifted from throughout Season One and from Season Three, Episode Eight: Visionary.**

Not beta read. Apologies for any and all grammar/structure mistakes.

Also, I know that this chapter is pretty rough, I'm sort of unhappy with it, but I got tired of looking at it..so..

* * *

Numb.

Numb and exhausted, that was all Derek felt at this point. In just the span of a day, the axis of his entire world had been rocked with the death of almost his entire family. The worst part? It was entirely his fault. He may not have been the one who poured the gasoline and struck the match, but he certainly paved a direct path for the one who did.

As maybe expected of any teenage boy, he had been exerting some 'teenage independence' from his family over the past few months, with the usual skipping out on family events, keeping secrets, sneaking out and ignoring curfew. He even went so far as to get a cool, older girlfriend whom his parents probably would not have approved of: Kate. Kate who was so much more mature, more exciting, more interesting than he was. She was beautiful, outgoing and she seemed to know what she wanted: amazingly, that had seemed to be Derek.

Ah, Kate. Kate, who had apparently just used him for information in order to burn his entire family alive except for a sister and an uncle, who had barely managed to escape from the fire. Why would she want to massacre his entire family? Perhaps Derek failed to mention that the majority of his family members were werewolves and that awesome, older girlfriend he had been dating? Yeah, her last name was Argent and the Argents just happened to be one of the oldest families of werewolf-hunters still around and active today. He had thought she had been different.

Derek, in addition to just wanting some independence, had still been reeling from the loss of Paige, a girl whom he had previously met in his sophomore year and had fallen in love with. But in what should have been a time filled with happiness and new discovery, ended up being one tinged with sadness, regret and tragedy. He had seen himself building a future with Paige but had allowed his own insecurities and the interference of his Uncle Peter to ruin any chance of that. Derek had always been proud of being a werewolf, but because of Peter, had become worried that Paige would not share in his enthusiasm.

Peter not only planted the idea in his mind that turning Paige into a werewolf would prevent her from leaving him (they'd be the same, so no need for him to worry any longer), he also gave him the idea of asking one of the fellow Alphas in town to turn her. In the end, Derek propositioned Ennis (who recently lost a pack member to hunters), whom accepted probably hoping to gain favor with Derek's mother and lured Paige to the empty school late at night. Ennis attacked and bit her then left Derek to deal with the aftermath.

Immediately, he noticed that the bite wasn't taking with her and was killing her instead. Distraught, he took her to basement of an abandoned house that he had used previously to hide from hunters in and held her as she suffered. Here, she admitted to him that she always known that he was different, what with the strange things she had seen in town and around him and with the awkward way in which he sometimes spoke, but told him that she would have loved him anyway; what he had done had been for no reason and now it was going to mean her death.

Paige, in terrible pain, despite Derek leeching away as much as he could, and slowly dying, ended up asking Derek to end her suffering; he, guilty and unable to watch her hurt any further, acquiesced. Heartbroken and devastated, Derek remained behind when Peter eventually revealed himself from where he'd been hiding and observing the proceedings in the shadows to take Paige's body from his arms to go place her in the woods where she would be eventually discovered and her death attributed to another in a long line of Beacon Hills' infamous animal attacks

Affected deeply by what had gone down with Paige (including Peter's manipulation) and not wanting the past to repeat itself, Derek had elected to be more honest with Kate from the start, but also keep her separate from his family until they were further along in their relationship; unknowingly by doing this, he was feeding her the secrets that would ultimately destroy his family while preventing any member of having a chance to maybe stop what Kate was planning in the future. They'd just gathered for the Wolf Moon and he had told her that he wouldn't be able to get away this weekend to meet because of it…God. Now he understood why she had just encouraged his secrecy and never pushed for meeting anyone in his family even though she was obviously curious about them.

* * *

So, there Derek sat, numb and exhausted, haunted by smoke and ash and the image of what remained of his childhood home, on a tiny little wooden bench in the hallway of Beacon Hills' Sheriff's Department. One half of what remained of his family, Laura, sat in silence next to him, while the other half, Peter, had been rushed from the site of the house to the hospital, and the prognosis hadn't looked good.

Deputy Stilinski, a nice man with kind eyes, assured Laura that he would do everything he could to help them before helping them gather their meager belongings (the school bags they'd grabbed on their way out of the door this morning and subsequently probably the only reason they were still alive). Laura planned to check them into a hotel for the next few days while they figured things out.

Staying in the hotel day for a few days ended up being for a few weeks as they struggled to get their affairs in order. The days seemed to pass by in a blurred haze for Derek. Thankfully, he had Laura; Laura who had just celebrated her eighteenth birthday a few weeks ago and was relatively able to handle all legal issues on her own. Such as the fact that Derek was still a minor without a legal guardian until Laura stepped in to say that she would fill that role, or the fact that there was now an overwhelming amount of paperwork that needed to be filled out for funerals, the insurance company and the hospital.

Derek tried to help Laura as much as he was able, but there just wasn't much that an underage, teenage boy could actually do, so he ended up spending the time he wasn't with her curled up in a hospital chair at Uncle Peter's bedside, hoping for a change in his condition; one never came. Neither of them returned to school. Luckily, there was the fact that there were only a few weeks of school left and their grades weren't that bad; they were both allowed to pass on to next grade (in Derek's case, Laura was permitted to graduate but chose not to attend the ceremony).

While her friends were out enjoying some of the best times of their lives, she was at home planning a funeral to honor her lost family members in one of the worst moments of hers.

* * *

Laura did a beautiful job, if you were one who was able to think of a funeral as beautiful; Derek thought his mother would be proud, would feel as though Laura had honored her family. As he stood beside his sister at the grave-site (they'd only chosen one plot, with one large decorative headstone topped with their family crest), he couldn't help but feel as though the weather was wrong for this occasion. He felt as though it should be cloudy, rainy and cold—reflect how he felt on the inside; instead, the sun was out and obscured by clouds and there was a gentle breeze. The more he thought about it though, the more he realized that this was better; his mother loved this weather: it was perfect for her.

Derek couldn't bring himself to say anything, just stood at Laura's side as she ranged from saying stupid and silly to heartfelt and wonderful things about their family to the few people who'd gathered for the funeral—friends of their parents, a few of their own friends, the local vet (hm?), even Deputy Stilinski—and promised himself that he'd find a way to avenge his family, that he'd be there for Laura to make sure nothing happened to her, that she'd be safe and happy; he thought about his aunts, his cousins, siblings, mother and father and how much he loved them all and just how sorry he was.

* * *

Eventually, the fire was ruled as an accident by the Beacon Hill Fire Department who claimed the fire started due to an electrical malfunction—whatever that was supposed to mean. Laura and Derek (especially, Derek) knew better because even if the fire had been accidental, it would not have explained why none of their family members were unable to escape from the house (except Uncle Peter). However, it wasn't like they could take the story of what actually happened to the Sheriff's department and even then, Laura was still in the dark about Derek's involvement.

He was afraid to tell her, terrified that she would be disgusted with him and leave him there all alone. It's not like he would blame her. He knew that he must be smelling of sadness over-laced with overwhelming guilt, so she had to know that something was wrong, but he just couldn't bring himself to tell her and risk losing her. Thankfully (or not), she didn't press the issue probably because she was just so swamped with her own and assumed that he would come to her when he was ready.

During one of their last meetings, Deputy Stilinski brings up the idea of possible arson with the pair, but Laura quickly shut that line of thought down. At that point, they've been advised that it seemed unlikely that Uncle Peter was going to wake up from his coma (it had been weeks) and Laura just wanted to get them both out of Beacon Hills and to safety before the hunters came back to finish what they started; she been finalizing the necessary steps for the insurance company, their family had been laid to rest, and Laura had been granted custody of Derek provided that she met the conditions set forth by the state. So she politely informed Deputy Stilinski that there was no reason to think that the fire was a result of arson, thanked him for assistance those past few weeks, and mentioned that they'd really just like to start healing before ushering her brother out of the office.

And so Laura and Derek Hale, the last remaining members of the Hale family (aside from Peter), decided to leave behind Beacon Hills and all it's bad memories, with all that remained of their life before packed away in the tiny trunk of Laura's Camaro and head toward the other side of the country.

* * *

New York was nothing like Beacon Hills, which Derek both loved and was grateful for.

He loved the anonymity here; Beacon Hills was such a small town that it was impossible to fade into the background; everyone knew everyone's business; New York is much too big a city for that to be possible here. They are not those 'poor Hale kids whose family died tragically in a fire' to anyone here. It's not just the regular populace that's big here; even the Supernatural community is substantial and diverse, when back in Beacon Hills it basically only consisted of Derek's family. Sure, there was a random, peaceful supernatural creature that would pass through every once and a while or a stray Omega that would have to be dealt with, but it was mainly Hale territory and other Supernatural beings left them alone; their mother was respected. There are numerous packs cramped within this city. Laura has decided that they should just remain on friendly terms with the other packs, rather than petition to join one. They're both not ready to follow another Alpha—they found it hard sometimes to still acknowledge the change in color in Laura's eyes.

There was also plenty to distract himself with here—it was New York after all—so that he didn't dwell on why they were in a new city starting over to begin with. It wasn't that he was letting himself forget (that would never happen and he wouldn't deserve it anyway), but he had made some promises to his family at their grave site and he intended to keep them. Right now, that meant that Derek needed to focus on helping Laura and ensuring that she was happy and safe and looked after. He couldn't do those things if he lived in the past and forgot about the present.

* * *

The first few full moons were rough for Derek due to the fact that he'd essentially lost his anchor: his family. Although he still had Laura, it just wasn't the same. So, he spent those first few months adjusting himself to a new anchor: anger. Anger at himself, at Kate, at the world, etc… He doesn't talk to Laura about it and she didn't press, only offered and provided her support when he needed it. She located a nearby state park and started driving them out there during the full moon to allow him take his rage and frustration out on the local forestry until he got it under control.

* * *

And so life went on, and they established a routine. Laura settled into her new roles (best friend, Alpha, sister, mother for all intents and purposes) while Derek tried to follow her example and settle into his (best friend, Beta, brother, son). Laura, having already experienced the joys of completing her senior year in high school, refused to allow Derek to miss out on his last year and obtain a GED (something about the social environment would be good for him), so she steamrolled him into enrolling into a local school and told him to make the best of it; he kept his grades up but avoided getting too involved with any of the students-to him it just was not worth the risk. He knew that Laura was noticing his anti-social tendencies and that they were bothering her, but she was too busy working on finding a job and forming peaceful pack alliances and relations to really push the matter.

Months passed and before they could really comprehend it, they've developed a new life in New York; the insurance company had finally come through and issued the payments on the life policies, but the deaths of their family members are still too raw for them to touch any of that money right now so they put it away in savings. Derek managed to survive high school while Laura started attending classes part-time at New York University; they managed to scrounge up enough money (both from Laura's savings from her part-time job and their parents' left-over bank accounts) to purchase a modest apartment not too far from Laura's work and New York University's campus. They still called back to check with Beacon Hills Hospital to see if their Uncle Peter's condition has changed or improved in anyway, but sadly, they never received any good news.

Eventually, they started to laugh and joke again—to have fun—started to go back to the brother and sister they were before.

They don't ever officially join a larger pack, but they are satisfied with their own pack of two, spending full moons in the state parks as Alpha and Beta, both ecstatic when Laura manages her first full shift into Alpha form. There are pangs of sadness as they each thought about their mother in this form, but there are also feelings of happiness at the remembrance. They aren't healed completely (and probably never may be), but theywere healing and they had each other.

Months turned into years and Derek and Laura were continuing to slowly heal and build their life in New York. Derek found that at this point in his life, he was certainly content, if not happy.

* * *

But it seemed like his contentment couldn't last: Derek Hale was twenty when his world tilted again.


	3. Chapter 3

Derek found it sad really, how much he had come to resent his childhood hometown; he had used to really love this place and had always planned on coming back here after college. Now…now he could barely stand to wait until morning to head back to the tiny apartment he shared with Laura in New York. She had sent him back here to tie up a few loose ends with the hospital and Uncle Peter's extended health care—he still wasn't exactly sure why that had to be done in person, though. At present, he had just finished up at the hospital and was currently on his way out, but remained blissfully unaware over how drastically his life was about to change.

Driving along the road that would eventually lead him to his temporary home away from home, a shabby motel on the outskirts of town, he felt a sudden chill run along his spine. As he glanced in each of his mirrors and out through each window he finally noticed flashing red and blue lights of a sheriff's vehicle stopped up ahead near the train tracks that ran along the town's limits. Shifting only his eyes to enhance his vision, he discovered that an officer had stopped because a car had crashed violently and laid in a crumpled ruin on the tracks; it appeared as though the officer, who seemed to be an aged Deputy Stilinski (probably Sheriff Stilinski now?), was attempting and failing to free whoever was trapped in the car. With the realization that he could easily shift the car, Derek started to ease his own car over to the side of the road so that he could go and help.

He parked the car and reached over to unclasp his seatbelt only to be startled by the sudden appearance of an older teenager in the passenger seat next to him, holding a small bundle on her lap. Oddly enough, he only felt a sense of overwhelming sorrow instead of what one might be expected to feel at the appearance of a stranger in their car besides the initial surprise. He watched her for a few moments—she simply stared at the scene in front of them—before he turned back to watch as well; his desire to get out of the car and go help all but forgotten.

He jumped again when she finally spoke several moments later. "I tried to tell him, you know."

"Tell him what?"

"That it wouldn't do any good, it was too late for me. That he had more important places to be."

"Dep—Sheriff Stilinski is a good man. He… He helped my family before. He wouldn't have been able to just leave you."

"So it would seem. But he should have been with his wife, she is—was—dying and he should have been able to be with her. I tried to tell him and like I said, it was too late for me."

"But you're in my car…and you seem fine?"

The teenager carefully pressed the baby into his arms, Derek fumbling for just a moment before he steadied his arms and gently cradled the baby's head for support. "If you still want to help me, Derek, then there is something you can do for me. My son and I, we've been unable to return to our home for some time now due to what he is. Unfortunately, unlike my son, I am unsuitable for this modern world and my body sustained fatal injuries from the car accident." At this, Derek attempted a discreet sniff, attempting to figure out just what this teenager exactly was; he faintly associated her scent with those that he had previously smelled deep in the Preserve when he was younger—those that he associated with beings known as the Fae.

Derek supposed that fit, as a Fae would likely be the only being powerful enough to pull off the situation that was currently going on inside and outside of his car. Now that he thought about it, he remembered his Uncle Peter mentioning something about how iron tended to be incredibly harmful to them and if he wasn't mistaken, those train tracks, where the car was lying, consisted of mostly iron.

The fae paused briefly at Derek's less-than-discreet-sniff, but only merely continued on with what she was saying, "Once I am gone, he will have no one left, as he is an outcast amongst our kind, and I cannot simply allow him to be raised amongst humans due to his true nature as they would never understand him. So, if you wish to truly help me…" She paused, looking at him expectantly.

"I…" Derek started, but couldn't finish, mouth simply hanging open as he stared down at the baby in his arms; he couldn't believe that this mother was calmly discussing her death and the subsequent adoption of her baby across his carseats; maybe he'd been the one to get into a car accident and was having a delirious dream. Of course he had wanted to help her, that's what he had stopped his car in order to actually go physically help—not so that he could have parenthood thrust upon him!

The fae-girl smiled kindly at him before leaning over to whisper the baby's name into Derek's ear; true names held meaning and power to the fae and were not to be uttered allowed carelessly. Derek balked at the monstrosity that this poor infant was gifted with and the girl, seeing his distress, murmured, "Perhaps a nickname, then?" before turning her eyes back toward Sheriff Stilinski on the road. "What did you say this man's name was again?"

"Oh, uhm, Sheriff Stilinski?" Derek mumbled back in response, unable to take his eyes off of the newborn in his arms.

"Hmm." The mother mumbled thoughtfully, reaching over to brush a fingertip across the downy fuzz atop the baby's head. "How about Stiles, then-after a man who has shown us both kindness? There are worse namesakes out there."

Derek merely nodded along with the woman, internally freaking out over whether or not she had done something to make him so agreeable—or maybe the baby was doing it. In no reality was Derek just sitting here allowing this woman to hand him a baby and agreeing to become a father when he had never even seen her before in his life-he didn't even know her name!

"Please, take good care of him, Derek." The fae pleaded, before leaning over to whisper something to the baby in his arms in a language that he had no hope of ever understanding. Then without even giving Derek a chance to protest, she disappeared from the interior of his car, leaving him to continue gaping down at the peacefully sleeping and unaware baby left in his care. "What the fuck?"

Deciding that it was probably a good idea to not be caught with a newborn baby, that he had no sane explanation for mind you, just sitting in his car rather than in a protective carseat, Derek decided that he better put some distance between himself and the Sheriff who seemed to remain 'blissfully' unaware of crisis Derek was currently going through. It also wasn't like he could just walk up to the car and thrust the baby back into his mother's arms; she'd been pretty clear on that aspect, what with the whole not going to survive the accident.

Tucking the baby as safely as he could into the passenger seat, he started the car and carefully maneuvered it back onto the road and away from the scene.

* * *

Derek couldn't believe his life sometimes: what had started out as a simple act of coming home to review and update his uncle's hospital care had turned into a trip that resulted in him becoming a father to a newborn half-fae-half-human infant through some mystical fae-agreement-whammy (that was the only explanation—Derek had never been that agreeable in his life. Besides, what kind of person just randomly accepted stranger's babies like it was no big deal? Jesus. Christ.).

He wasn't sure how he was going to explain this situation to his Alpha, his sister. Right now, he was just relieved that descriptions of individual items wouldn't show up on the statements for the credit cards he shared with Laura, just amounts, because he really wasn't looking forward to a phone call questioning his sudden desire to buy the local Target out of baby supplies. He reasoned that Laura would be less likely to freak out in the actual face of a cute baby versus having time to freak out over it after hearing about it on the phone; besides, she'd been making noises about expanding the pack recently—Derek was merely helping her out here.

Yeah, no, Derek was pretty sure that was utter bullshit and that he was in shock; he had no idea how this had happened, even though it had happened directly to him—he was there! He couldn't be trusted with this—he was at fault for death of practically his entire pack! As he felt the panic creeping up on him, Derek collapsed onto the bed in his hotel room with Stiles nestled in his arms, attempting not to drop him. As his breaths become shorter and more desperate, the baby stirred from sleep and drowsily blinked large amber eyes up at him.

Derek continued to become increasingly more distressed and lightheaded until he felt small chubby fingers securely wrap themselves around one of his larger ones and squeeze tightly. Closing his eyes, he focused on that until his heart-rate slowed and his breaths evened out. Once he finally calmed down, he opened his eyes to find the baby still staring at him.

Derek gently traced a finger down the baby's pink cheek, smiling as his tiny mouth formed a perfect "o" in a yawn. "Hello, Stiles." Maybe…maybe he could do this. After all, where else was this little guy going to go? So far, no police officers had busted down the door demanding to know where the missing baby of the dead fae-girl was, he hadn't heard anything about it on the news and no one had given him any weird glances while he was at the store with a baby he wasn't supposed to actually have. So at this point Derek was assuming that the fae had done something to either alter the Sheriff's perception of the accident or no one actually knew about Stiles.

"Hmm…" He squinted his eyes suspiciously at the bundle in his arms, when he realized that his sense of calm wasn't going anywhere, "Are you makin—" He cut off abruptly as the Stiles' eyes flashed green briefly before he closed them and seemed to fall back asleep almost instantaneously. Yeah, mystical fae-agreement-whammy, Derek thought hysterically.

* * *

The next morning found Derek carefully stowing a mountain of baby paraphernalia in the trunk of the Camaro, blessedly thankful that he had chosen to drive back to Beacon Hills rather than fly, before spending close to twenty minutes trying to carefully buckle Stiles and the carseat in the back—he was pretty sure Stiles was giving him a tiny-judgmental-baby-look by the time it was all said and done.

Derek scrubbed his hands down his face before exhaling loudly and getting into the driver's seat. This was it, no going back after this point; not that he could exactly turn around and hand the baby back over to his mother nor could he in good conscience leave a half-fae baby to humans (who apparently had no idea he even existed). Additionally, Derek felt bad for the little guy: he apparently didn't have anyone out there left, he'd lost the only family he had left; Derek could relate to losing family.

Even if (although it probably wasn't an 'if' and was more likely an 'yes-you-were-actually-manipulated-into-wanting-me) he had been coerced into agreeing to take care of the infant, it's not like this was a situation that compared to…anything like before. It was a fae-baby, not a hunter: he wasn't actively seeking out his pack to destroy it. In fact, if hunters found out about him, they would probably—Derek sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Glancing into the back seat, he made up his mind; Derek couldn't leave the baby here without anyone else to care for it. He texted Laura to let her know that he was heading back but planned on taking it at slower pace—claimed that he needed a little more time to himself after being back in Beacon Hills; he wasn't exactly sure that she bought that excuse but thankfully she wasn't blasting up his phone demanding to know why he had an infant stowed away in the backseat (Shut up, Laura was crazy like that).

All in all, the trip took a little over a week due to Derek taking the time to stop often to check on Stiles who was a surprisingly quiet baby in the car—he hoped that this was good foreshadowing for the future—and to spend the night at various motels along the way: he figured keeping a newborn in a car for an entire drive across the country straight-through probably wouldn't be a spectacular first thing to do as a new parent.

When he and Stiles finally arrived back at the small apartment in New York, Derek discovered that his sister was nowhere to be found. On the one hand, he was thankful for this, because he still wasn't exactly sure how she was going to take the news of…well, Stiles, but on the other hand, he would have really rather just gotten it over with instead of continuing to stress over it further. Thankfully, or not, Laura chose to arrive home shortly after he had settled Stiles on the couch and prevented him from continuing to freak out any further.

* * *

"There's a baby on our couch!"

"Nothing gets passed you, Laura. No wonder you're the Alpha."

"Derek! Derek, I know things have been rough lately and that you really didn't want to go back to Beacon Hills, but please tell me that you didn't steal a baby. Oh my god, oh my god. Derek!" Laura pleaded, grabbing onto both of his arms in her distress. Seriously? Derek thought, why would he steal a baby?

"I didn't steal him, Laura. H-he lost his mother. I—It..it's a long story."

"I think I've got time, Derek." His sister remarked, visibly calming herself down before pulling him over to the couch to sit beside Stiles, who continued to sleep peacefully despite the commotion going on around him.

Thus, Derek spent the next hour going over the tragic trip with Laura, starting with his completed task of updating Peter's care to discovering the car accident on the side of the road to their Pack's newest addition: Stiles.

"The hell, Derek, you're lucky that we know a guy that can handle this! You can't just have babies spontaneously appearing out of nowhere!" She shrieked, shaking him in frustration. All in all, Derek figured she took it pretty well.


End file.
